Andhra seeks more tourist arrivals through new beach resorts

Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh government has identified several locations along its 972-km long coastline for developing beach resorts as part of its plans to attract domestic and international tourists.

The government decision assumes significance in the backdrop of reports on the potentiality of beach tourism which state that in terms of variety, Andhra Pradesh has best beaches not only in the country but in entire world and they offer prospects for tourism economy not only in India but beyond too.

Though beaches in Goa and Kerala are quite popular among foreigners, Andhra Pradesh offers wide variety and tourist friendly beaches in the country, sources in the tourism department said.

About 50 such beaches have been identified along Andhra Pradesh coastline and the potential is to develop 50 beach resorts, they said.

These locations will be transformed into international tourist destinations by developing necessary infrastructure. "We are contemplating to develop beaches meeting the standards of foreign tourist visitors," they said.

"We are actively focused on the development of beach resorts as the state has the second longest coastline in the country after Gujarat. The potential is immense and vast," said a senior official of the tourism department.

Only four beach resorts have been developed in the state over the decades at Visakhapatnam district and its surrounding areas.

"We have been concentrating on the development of beach tourism with help of the central and state government funding," the official said adding that they had conceived plans for development of nine new beach resorts between Srikakulam and Nellore districts in the last two years.

Out of these nine beaches, two at Kalingapatnam and Mayapadu are complete and the remaining seven will be ready in next four months, tourism officials said.

"Beach resorts at Baruva in Srikakulam will be opened by mid-April and at Ramayapatnam in Prakasam district it will be ready by end of April. We have one beach resort in Suryalanka near Bapatla in Guntur district, we are developing phase-II there and works at Chintapalle in Vizianagaram district are in the final stages of completion,” they said.

“Chintapalle and Kakinada in East Godavari district will be ready by June along with a beach in Nellore to be ready by June," they added.